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A lovely morning at the monkey forest with my own cheeky monkeys ! Thankfully I came home with the same four I went in with
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There’s a lot more to walkers than just walking! In my many years of practicing physical therapy I have not found that using walkers and gait trainers more frequently actually teaches children to walk independently by themselves. I’m not sure the data is there to say that if your child spends a certain amount of time in a walker or gait trainer each day that they will learn how to walk on their own.
If you’ve seen my tips in the past you know that I believe the best way for children to learn how to walk independently (without devices) is to foster the developmental skills of lateral weight shifting and cruising along objects and furniture throughout the developmental progression.
Walkers are wonderful for building strength and muscular endurance, two components that when coupled with skilled weight shifting often lead to improvements in independent walking.
In this video Dominick and I are using the walker to focus on building the strength of the gluteals, quads, and calves in single leg stance repeatedly on a park curb. At this time Dominick is able to walk independently for 6-8 steps without a device. We choose to continue to use the device at specific times to build the strength and endurance described above because we likely would not be able to get the same number of repetitions in free-standing.
In Dominick's situation the walker gives him the external support to allow me to facilitate a shift in his body weight (nose over toes) to focus on the activation of the calves, quads and gluteals with the appropriate timing. I'm controlling the walker so that with each step up we focus on the muscles we want to get stronger.
This is the first time that Dominick and I have practiced this exercise. Its easier to teach him to ascend, and as he gets stronger, the descend begins to come in and we can work very effectively with good alignment in both directions.
Give this one a try while summer is still here and if you need any help you know where to reach me. MJ
Sunshine + Harry + IPad + Vtech = happiness
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It’s crazy to think that my first charity fun day was almost a week ago! Hundreds of people attend! There were smiles and laughter everywhere. THREE people used the @mobiloouk who otherwise may not have been able to attend and enjoy the day. We had families travel for miles and miles go join us for the day Everyone was thrilled with the events and activities and everyone loved the BBQ.
I wanted the to be a FUN day for EVERY family regardless of their challenges and we definitely achieved that. I can’t wait to do it all again next year!
If you don’t know about my charity you can check it out on Facebook. It’s called More Than a Face and I educate children in schools on the various causes of facial disfigurement & visible difference, ensure that they have the skills to interact positively with others and, via the power of YouTube, I introduce them to a boy they have more in common with than they could ever know . So far I’ve worked with over 4000 students and I’m looking to more than double that next academic year. My mission continues Cx
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If you’re struggling with hay fever at the moment spare a thought for Harry. It’s annoying at the best of times but when your only eye feels raw and itchy and your only nostril gets completely blocked it’s a whole new level of uncomfortable My boy was awake twice in the night then up for the day from 4am so he’s shattered now. Hoping he manages to have a good day at school
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This afternoon I attended Harry’s school for an awards ceremony and afternoon tea. Harry didn’t win an award but I’ve never seen so many children thrilled for each other to be worthy recipients. It really was lovely and when I asked if Harry wanted to come home with me or transport he jumped up and grabbed me for a hug. His TA said “he adores you” and the feeling is completely mutual
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